FIGHTING AGAINST THE ILLICIT TRAFFICKING OF CULTURAL PROPERTY Cross-border training workshop for authorities from the Republic of Moldova and Romania Rome, Italy, 12-16 November 2018 Monday, 12 November

1. ROMANIA - MINISTRY OF THE INTERNAL AFFAIRS
GENERAL INSPECTORATE OF THE ROMANIAN POLICE
CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION DIRECTORATE
Bucharest, 13-15 Stefan cel Mare Avenue
Tel/fax: +4-021-3164698
pcn@politiaromana.ro www.politiaromana.ro
THE STATE OF THE ART IN FIGHTING THE ILLICIT
TRAFFICKING OF CULTURAL PROPERTY IN ROMANIA
Fighting against Illicit Traficking of Cultural Property – Training Workshop
Rome, Italy, 12 – 16 November 2018

2. Unit for Combating Crimes Against
Persons
Deputy Director
Operative Cooperation
Office
Fugitive Unit
Unit for Combating Crimes Against
Property and Criminal Groups
International Police and Legal
Assistance Unit
Unit of Judicial
Delegations
National Cultural Heritage
Protection Unit
Organization chart of
Criminal Investigation Directorate
DIRECTOR
Deputy Director

3. Territorial organization
• Delegated -
Municipal,
• City and Rural Police
• General Directorate
of Bucharest
Municipal Police
• 41 County Police
Inspectorates
County
level
Local level
NATIONAL HERITAGE PROTECTION UNIT
43 Judicial Policemen working full time in this field and
at local level by delegation, from other structures

4. THE LEGISLATIVE FRAME
THE MAIN INTERNAL LEGISLATION:
Romanian Constitution;
Law no. 182/2000 regarding the protection of the movable national cultural
heritage, republished;
Law no. 422/2001 regarding the protection of historical monuments, republished;
Law no. 50/1991 regarding the authorization of construction works and some
measures for the construction of houses, republished;
 Governmental Decision no. 47/2000 regarding the establishment of certain
protection measures for the historical monuments found on the List of world
heritage, with the subsequent modifications and completions;
Governmental Decision no. 43/2000 regarding the protection of the archaeological
heritage, republished;
Governmental Decision no. 1420/2003, regarding the approval of the Norms on
movable cultural assets trading;
Governmental Decision no. 518/2004 regarding the approval of the
methodological Norms on the permanent or temporary exportation of the movable
cultural assets;
Order no. 251/409/2275/M 115/2004 – Order of the minister of State, minister of
the Interior and Administrative Reform, minister of Economy and Commerce, of the
minister of Culture and Cults and of the minister of National Defense regarding the
approval of the technical Norms on the possession and trading of metal detectors;

5. INTERNATIONAL LEGISLATION:
Law no. 79 of November 11, 1993 regarding Romania’s joining the Convention on the
measures to be adopted in order to impede and stop the illicit import, export operations, as
well as property transfer of the cultural assets, adopted by the General Conference of the
United Nations Organization for Education, Science and Culture, in Paris on November 14,
1970;
 Law no. 149/1997 regarding the ratification of the UNIDROIT Convention regarding stolen
or legally exported cultural assets, adopted in Rome, on June 24 1995;
 Law no. 150 of 24.07.1997 regarding the ratification of the European Convention on the
protection of archaeological heritage (revised), adopted in La Valetta on January 16, 1992;
Law no. 157 of October 7, 1997 regarding the ratification of the Convention on the
architectural heritage of Europe, adopted in Granada on October 3, 1985;
Regulation of the European Community Council (EEC) no. 116/2009 regarding the
exportation of cultural assets;
Regulation of the European Community Council (EEC) no. 1081/2012 regarding the
establishment of the necessary measures for the implementation of the Regulation of the
European Community Council no.116/2009 regarding the exportation of the cultural assets
Directive 2014/60/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 May 2014 on
the return of cultural objects unlawfully removed from the territory of a Member State and
amending Regulation (EU) No 1024/2012

6. Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Public Ministry
Ministry of Culture
Structures within the
Ministry of Internal Affairs
Ministry of Justice
Most important
Interagency cooperation
Romanian
Police
Heritage
Protection
Unit
National Customs Authority
State Inspectorate of
Constructions
Romanian Orthodox
Patriarchy
The ONG’s

7. INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION:
the International Police Cooperation Centre within M.I.A. ensures
the cooperation with INTERPOL, EUROPOL, SELEC (Southeast
European Law Enforcement Center)
the Permanent Bodies of the European Union
TASK-FORCE of the EU police chiefs
Police of other states through the Romanian Internal Attachés in
European states, as well as those of the respective countries and of
the U.S.A. in Bucharest.

8. Geographic position, on the one hand, and its rich history, on the other
hand, determined the events recorded in criminal cases registered by the
Police, and the statistics of last 15 years, leads to the conclusion that
Romania is equally source country of stolen cultural goods, country for
transit, from both the Central and Western Europe, and for those trafficked
from Eastern Europe or Asia.
For now, more than 4000 cultural goods are recorded in the National
Romanian Police Stolen WoA database,and 529 items in the INTERPOL
WoA database. Another over 5000 ancient coins and other archaeological
artifacts, result of plundering the archaeological sites, are searched.
OVERVIEW

9. NATIONAL ROMANIAN POLICE STOLEN WoA
DATABASE

10. 529
ITEMS
WANTED
INTERPOL WoA DATABASE
THE STATE OF THE ART OF THE STOLEN
CULTURAL GOODS FROM ROMANIA
AT NOVEMBER 2018

11. CERAMICS - 3
WATCH/CLOCK - 30
COIN/MEDAL - 23
DOCUMENT/BOOK - 28
DRAWING - 1
FURNITURE - 7
GLASWARE - 6
GOLD/SILVER JEWELLERY - 42
ICON - 114
PAINTINGS - 150
SCULPTURE/STATUE - 51
TAPESTRY - 2
WEAPON - 6 RELIGIOUS AND LITURGICAL ITEM - 56
MISCELLANOUS - 6
MINERALS - 1
TOOLS - 3

12. INTEGRATED INFORMATION MANAGEMENT SYSTEM FOR
THE PROTECTION OF CULTURAL HERITAGE
- exchange of informations between the national institutions
concerned: National Police, National Border Police, Customs,
Ministry of Culture, museums, experts etc.

13. The main crimes against Romanian cultural heritage committed:
- theft from the museums, churches, public and private collections (artworks,
antiques, archaeological finds – coins, panoply weapons, gold and silver
jewelry; old books, especially religious items);
- illegal excavations in archaeological sites and traffic with antiquities: coins,
vessels, statues, etc;
- theft by substitute of paintings from Art Museums;
- international illegal associations trafficking the cultural goods (antiquities,
icons, paintings etc.);
- carried out unauthorized construction, destruction of historical monuments
CHARACTERISTICS OF CRIMES AGAINST
NATIONAL HERITAGE

14. Growing market demands have prompted the development of a category of
intermediaries - collectors who represent the "gray zone" of connection between the
primary bidders of the 'black market' and the official dealers. These dynamic
intermediaries move in search of deals on the "black market" of countries and
regions rich in archaeological heritage.
Poaching archaeological sites historical monument, some of them on the list of
UNESCO World Heritage monuments, is an offense that was common in Romania.
The facts were committed by specialized groups, organized criminal associations,
equipped with advanced detection equipment.
Members of these groups place the stolen archaeological items to national
collectors and "investors" and were in contact with international networks of
smugglers who removed illegally the items and place them on the black market, to
collectors from EU and USA.
ILLEGAL EXCAVATIONS,
THEFT and TRAFFICKING the ANCIENT ARTEFACTS

15. STOLEN COINS FROM
ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITES AND
SEIZED BY THE POLICE

16. The successful application of the provisions of the 1970 UNESCO
Convention and 1995 UNIDROIT Convention, but especially the European
Convention on Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters signed in Strasbourg
on 1959 and the its additional protocol from 1978; the European Convention
on Laundering, Search, Seizure and Confiscation of crime, signed in
Strasbourg on 1990; the Convention on Mutual Assistance in Criminal
Matters between Member States of the European Union done at Brussels on
2000 and the EU Council Framework Decision no. 2003/577/JHA of 22 July
2003, however applicable in the prosecutions have led to the restitution to
Romania over 10,000 antique pieces from the USA, United Kingdom of
Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Ireland, France, Switzerland, Italy,
Belgium, Netherlands, Germany, Austria, Poland, Bulgaria.
INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION

17. RECOVERING THE PAST
fighting against trafficking the
archaeological artefacts
At National level :
– investigations, searches and
sized the objects
At International level:
– mutual assistance, diplomatic
channels, applying the
International Conventions
Romania so far recovered 13 gold Dacian bracelets (cca.
12,633 kg), two iron parade shields, 1024 gold Koson coins, 204
silver Koson coins, 33 gold Lysimachos coins minted at Callatis
and Tomis, 12.000 silver and bronze coins and different Dacian
iron tools and weapons, all stolen from Sarmizegetusa Regia
and from other Dacian citadels – UNESCO Monuments in the
Orastie Mountains, Central Romania.

18. 13 Golden ancient
bracelets, a necklace and
earrings stolen from a
Romanian archaeological
site UNESCO monument
Recovered under the
UNIDROIT Convention
provisions (2007-2013)

19. Antique shields stolen from
an archaeological site,
UNESCO monument,
recovered in 2011, under the
UNIDROIT Convention
provisions

20. Ancient jewelry stolen from
Romanian archaeological
sites, recovered in 2015,
under the UNIDROIT
Convention provisions

21. Epigraphic monuments
representing bronze
tabulae containing laws
of Troesmis
municipality (county.
Tulcea), issued by
Emperor Marcus
Aurelius (161-180 AD).
The artefacts, stolen
from Romania in 2002
were repatriated in may
2015 from London,
through international
judicial cooperation
with the authorities of
the United Kingdom of
Great Britain and
Northern Ireland

22. Ministero per i Beni e le Attività
Culturali
Comando Carabinieri Tutela
Patrimonio Culturale
Three dinosaur eggs (Telmatosaurus
transsylvanicus, cca 72 - 65 million age)
stolen from paleontological site from
Ţara Haţegului, Hunedoara County, by
an Italian citizen, were recovered by the
TPC Carabinieri from Venice in 2012

23. The Operation
Budweiser
In Aprilie 2016,
working
together, the
Romanian and
the Czech police
officers
recovered a lot
of
archaeological
goods, stolen in
2015 from some
Dacian citadels,
UNESCO
monuments, and
trafficked by
four czechs
citizens

25. THE BRESCIA CASE
Comando Carabinieri Tutela Patrimonio Culturale
Nucleo Tutela Patrimonio Culturale di Milano
22 RELIGIOUS PAINTINGS
(XVII-XVIII century) AND 19 OLD
BOOKS (XVII-XVII century)
stolen/illicit exported from Italy
were recovered and were
returned to Italy in 2013

26. THE BRESCIA CASE
Comando Carabinieri Tutela Patrimonio Culturale
Nucleo Tutela Patrimonio Culturale di Milano

29. In March 2014, working
together, the Romanian and
Spanish police officers
recovered a 300.000 euros
painting of
Juan Garcia Ripolles and
another Florentine style
painting stolen from Spain
and trafficked by Spanish,
Romanian and Moroccan
citizens

30. A FAMILY BUSINESS
The perpetrator
“Stelica” robs un
archaeological sites from
Caras-Severin county,
using a metal detector,
and the items stolen
from here are sold on the
internet by his girlfriend,
to a Belgium citizen
buyer.
This one steals also
fossils from caves, in
particular cave bear
skulls.

31. These fossils have been
illegaly exported in Germany and
Austria with the help of
foreigners’ citizens.
So far, Romania manage to
recover 309 archaeological
objects, of which 164
ancient/medieval coins.

32. MINE FLOWERS ILLEGALLY EXPORTED IN HUNGARY
A Hungarian citizen took illegal
minerals (mine flowers) and fossils from
Caras-Severin county, and traficking them in
Hungary where he sells them on ebay.
Some of these goods have been included in
several collections in Hungary.

33. Unfortunately, the recovery procedures of these cultural goods are
blocked because some deficiencies in the Romanian criminal prosecution
activity. The main problem is that those mine flowers provenance could not be
proved as being from the territory of Romania, and consequently their
belonging to the Romanian heritage.

34. Thank you for your
attention
ROME, ITALY 2018
ROMANIAN POLICE
DELEGATION
pcn@politiaromana.ro